There so many opitions for a strut brace out there I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread to discuss some of the options.

Here's one that I've seen that looks like a very nice solution:

Hi Pete,
strut braces - I've always built my own on all the porkas. If you think about it, that's all you really need to do is stop inner wing to inner wing flex (in a simplistic way). I ensure the camber settings are correct first then build a brace to go between both side's mountings - I still like the 'compliance' to be in the strut mounting, not a lot, but there for a reason.
If you think about it, the most rigid is the 'weld in type' and that is primarilly to stop inner wing 'flex'. Though I have built these and fitted them, I find a straight tube between the pre-affixed settings Mountings) does the trick.
I will post some pictures - painted satin black with a sticker or two on makes £10.00's worth look, and more importantly work, as good as some costing twenty times that amount.
Never had a moment's trouble with them and built them for some serious rally cars in the past.
Regards

Dirty Fuchs.

Quote: Dirty Fuchs at Jun 02, 2009 10:35:08 pm

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Hi Pete,
strut braces - I've always built my own on all the porkas. If you think about it, that's all you really need to do is stop inner wing to inner wing flex (in a simplistic way). I ensure the camber settings are correct first then build a brace to go between both side's mountings - I still like the 'compliance' to be in the strut mounting, not a lot, but there for a reason.
If you think about it, the most rigid is the 'weld in type' and that is primarilly to stop inner wing 'flex'. Though I have built these and fitted them, I find a straight tube between the pre-affixed settings Mountings) does the trick.
I will post some pictures - painted satin black with a sticker or two on makes £10.00's worth look, and more importantly work, as good as some costing twenty times that amount.
Never had a moment's trouble with them and built them for some serious rally cars in the past.
Regards

Dirty Fuchs.

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Nice post Kev - I look forward to seeing the pictures.  Peter Bull, one of our members, wrote a pice on this sometime ago and I'll post here again.  Hopefully he will chime in when he sees it:



The most common is the one to the left. It has a hinge in each end which makes it very easy to mount and you can add some tension in it to increase static camber. Whether that is good or bad I don't know, but I woun't do it. Since it has hinges all it does is transfer load from the outer strut mount to the inner.

The type in the middle has fixed mounts. The good thing with fixed mounts, IMO, is that it resists bending thus transfers a little bending moment into the bar. This type is therefore a little stiffer than the previous type.

The last type is the triangulated one. Since a triangle is statically determined, or stable, it does not need to have fixed mounts. The diagonal does that job through tension or compression. This type is the stiffest one, but it also adds most weight.

Those three sketches look strangely familiar

You can make your own strut brace, it's not too difficult.



/Peter

looks good mate whats it made of? and how do i do it  lol , !

It's made from a 30 mm x 30 mm square steel tube with 2 mm wall thickness, the end brackets are made from U-profiles with a wall thickness of 5 mm.

Here's the drawing of the strut brace


and a detail of the end brackets.


In order for the strut brace to fit properly you will have to fix the brackets to the center tube with the brackets mounted to the car. The finishing welding can then be done with the strut brace out of the car.

/Peter

This is great Pete.  Excellent work.  Hopefully we'll some reproductions of your good work here 

One thing to keep in mind when making the holes in the brackets is that they are mirrored. The holes are slightly offset in order to fit the bolts for the top mounts on the strut towers. So the left and right bracket needs to have the holes offset in opposite directions.

/Peter

Hi Dirty Fuch, can you explain to me as you are obviously a very serious porsche guy and I am only just scratching the surface as a new owner . I had the impression that brace was for serious racing, does this have a benifit just for normal useage?
I would be pleased to Know as I intend to upgrade and woundered what to upgrade alltogether.

cheers Dil

Quote: Dil1232 at Jan 10, 2010 6:54:23 pm

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Hi Dirty Fuch, can you explain to me as you are obviously a very serious porsche guy and I am only just scratching the surface as a new owner . I had the impression that brace was for serious racing, does this have a benifit just for normal useage?
I would be pleased to Know as I intend to upgrade and woundered what to upgrade alltogether.

cheers Dil

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A strut brace is an absolute must for a race car, but IMO a strut brace offers alot of benefits for a road car too.

It has the effect of binding together the front dampers.  This makes the geometry of the car at the front change together rather than independently.  This means you get the full benefit of the geometry setup.  The car will handle slightly better and turn in better too.  The car will also be stiffened up slightly.

You can also use the strut brace to get that extra half a degree of caster, if thats what you are looking for!

Having used a strut brace on the majority of cars I have owned, road and competition cars, they do make a difference to the handling, however I am not convinced that it would make much of a difference to a 911.
The reason being, that the distance between the top of the front struts and the floor pan is quite small, therefore I would not expect too much flex between the suspension pillars.
In race use I would expect it to help, but for road use, I think it would be mainly cosmetic.

Still yet to choose my strut brace and still want one! as plan to do track days.

I had done a deal with Chris off IB for his weltmeister but it got lost in the post !...thieving royal mail.

What in your opinions are the better braces to buy? Ive read many times that there isnt much difference between a cheapie brace and a highly expensive one. Do you agree? Obvisouly a triangulated elephant brace or similar would be the best but i want to keep the functionality of the boot for touring.
The Steve wong brace looked like it did the job, weighed very little and doesnt cost the earth. http://www.911chips.com/C1strut.htm

I like the rennline braces but they are asking the earth for them.

I like rennline, but IMHO a home made one will do the same job.  Ultimately a cross brace between all four corners of the luggage bay is best, but this kills the practicality aspect.

Here's the one I would have for practicality and performance combined:

yes very nice Pete, had looked at that one. I like the way it uses quick release pins for the functionality, would be ideal. I wouldnt go the whole hog for the x-brace as thats meant for full competition use but the triangle combo would do nicely for track days.

I'd probably go for option 2 myself.  No need for the whole thing IMHO.  Not for the everage person anyway.

Its alot more hassle but I prefer the welded type on the shock towers, like the RSR's

Bought a Brey Krause strut brace off a DDK member just recently. Had been after one for ages and got it half price of shop advertised Its light as a feather despite being stainless steel.

Installed it without too much drama, though one of the strut mounts captive nuts had loosened off the underside of the wing and i had to do some contortion un-bolting from top and underside at the same time ! All done though. Have left it neutral for now, ie acting as pure front chassis stiffening. Will drive it for a short while like that then introduce a little bit of tension into it for a tad more camber and see how it feels.

[img

Nice one Mark - Be careful when you pull the towers in to increase camber.  Too much and the bonnet wont close.  have you got any pics of the mounting points?

Quote: MarkJ at May 26, 2010 7:38:43 pm

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Bought a Brey Krause strut brace off a DDK member just recently. Had been after one for ages and got it half price of shop advertised Its light as a feather despite being stainless steel.

Installed it without too much drama, though one of the strut mounts captive nuts had loosened off the underside of the wing and i had to do some contortion un-bolting from top and underside at the same time ! All done though. Have left it neutral for now, ie acting as pure front chassis stiffening. Will drive it for a short while like that then introduce a little bit of tension into it for a tad more camber and see how it feels.

[img

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Nice Mark, we'll compare Braces at Spa.

ow sad are we Porsche nutters - comparing our braces 

I cant go to spa.  Please take lots of photo'd and video.....